Government.ae

Dubai: A recent United Nations report has placed the UAE among the world’s top countries in terms of e-government readiness after it posted one of the most impressive year-on-year gains in 2005.

The UAE has advanced its ranking from 60 in 2004 to 42 this year, said the survey, e-Government Readiness Report, published by the United Nations Online Public Network and Fin-ance (UNPAN).

The country has been able to improve its performance with a revamped national web site that integrates information and services into a single gateway where its offerings can be easily located.

The UAE’s national web site was not only completely re-done but also re-branded, says the UN report.

“This is a testimony to the UAE federal government’s determination towards openness, effectiveness and efficiency,” said Dr. Mohammad Khalfan Bin Kharbash, UAE Minister of State for Financial and Industrial Affairs and Chairman of the Federal e-Government Steering Committee.

He said the e-government initiative, through the Internet portal, aims to increase individual and cross-departmental collaboration, improve public interaction and involvement, and centralise content management for all government ministries and entities with decentralised e-Services.

The portal provides a self-service channel to deliver personalised information and to transact

with the citizens, customers, employees and partners.

It is set to act and serve as a key tool to both reduce the cost of doing business and to increase revenue by facilitating interactions that are mutually beneficial to citizens and corporations.

The UN report praised the inclusion of the UAE government’s ministries, highlighting the Ministry of Education site, moe.gov.ae, which includes participatory features.

“It was perhaps especially noteworthy because in addition to being re-branded it is one of the few government sites in the Middle East that offers an open-ended discussion forum,” stated the report.

The UAE gateway to e-Services an interesting feature on the UAE gateway government.ae is that the government entry site is organised by end-user, providing information, services, and transactions under separate sections for residents, business, visitors, and government.

Impressive features on the site itself include up-to-date information, as well as registration and eTenders, which incorporate online bidding for public tenders.

In addition, the government gateway provides clear access to two excellent sites one of which is e-Dirham portal, e-dirham.gov.ae, for transactions, and the e-Forms portal, uaesmartforms.com, for online forms advancing its interactive presence.